MacBook advice

[sunfast]

Firstly - an apology to all of you who are no doubt bored out of your minds with requests for MacBook advice but I have a few queries...

Despite all my chat about waiting, I am about to buy a MacBook as it is pretty much my ideal computer - does nearly everything I'd ever want from it.

But my questions

1 - All these whine / moo posts I've seen. I appreciate that happy people are much less likely to post than those annoyed but there are quite a few annoyed people. If I'm paying this amount of money I'd hate to feel it was a gamble as to whether my computer was a good one or not.

2 - AppleCare. I've read a few posts saying get it for laptops but I baulk at the idea of paying a considerable amount of money for it. Is it really that likely to fail? I've owned several pc laptops in the past which have lasted a long time and doesn't Apple supply higher quality hardware generally?

3 - Graphics. I'm not bothered by the whole IIG thing as I only play the odd not very demanding game. However - will it be up to any graphical trickery in Leopard or indeed 10.6 when / if that appears? And it will be my only computer before long and I plan to hook it up to at least a 20" ACD. I know it says it will drive it in the specs, but will it do it well? I've heard reports of 12" PBs having the fans on all the time when running large displays.

4 - Config. I'm planning on a stock 2.0GHz White. I'll upgrade the RAM almost immediately but I'm unsure about the HD. I have an external for music / video and I guess I could swap the HD out in the future when they are bigger / cheaper. But would that screw the warranty?

Ok - I reckon that's it! Please reassure me as I'm desperate to by a MB.

 

[mad jew]

1 - All these whine / moo posts I've seen. I appreciate that happy people are much less likely to post than those annoyed but there are quite a few annoyed people. If I'm paying this amount of money I'd hate to feel it was a gamble as to whether my computer was a good one or not.

The nature of a complainer is to be vocal (obviously). We only hear (excuse the pun) the bad things about these machines but the whine/moo complaint is pathetic. It happens almost every new Mac release. Remember the PowerBook lines episode? Yeah, not a real issue IMO.

2 - AppleCare. I've read a few posts saying get it for laptops but I baulk at the idea of paying a considerable amount of money for it. Is it really that likely to fail? I've owned several pc laptops in the past which have lasted a long time and doesn't Apple supply higher quality hardware generally?

I never buy AppleCare but if I did, I wouldn't get it straight away. You can buy it anytime in the first year, which is incidentally covered under the standard warranty anyway. Don't worry about AppleCare for now.

3 - Graphics. I'm not bothered by the whole IIG thing as I only play the odd not very demanding game. However - will it be up to any graphical trickery in Leopard or indeed 10.6 when / if that appears? And it will be my only computer before long and I plan to hook it up to at least a 20" ACD. I know it says it will drive it in the specs, but will it do it well? I've heard reports of 12" PBs having the fans on all the time when running large displays.

It'll be fine with the next two releases of OSX if you consider machines that shipped with Jaguar can all run Tiger competently. As for the screen, that too should be fine for most uses. Of course, full screen gaming on the 20" probably won't be great, but that's to be expected.

4 - Config. I'm planning on a stock 2.0GHz White. I'll upgrade the RAM almost immediately but I'm unsure about the HD. I have an external for music / video and I guess I could swap the HD out in the future when they are bigger / cheaper. But would that screw the warranty?

Hard disk replacement in the MacBook will not void the warranty.

 

[sunfast]

Thanks a lot for all that!

Didn't realise about the AppleCare so I'll definitely wait on that and make my mind up later if it's been at all dodgy.

And delighted about HD replacement! That's really really good news.

Right, I'm happy, I'm getting a stock 2.0GHz TONIGHT!

 

[mad jew]

Good stuff, I'm jealous.

I'm sure you'll love it.

 

[dmw007]

Right, I'm happy, I'm getting a stock 2.0GHz TONIGHT!

Good choice you will be very happy with that system sunfast.


I would recommend that you purchase AppleCare for the MacBook (even if you wait a while to do so).

 

[designed]

I just experienced a few moos myself and it's nothing more than the simple fact that the fans are optimized towards silent operation with the cost of heating up and the MB can't decide whether to kick fans on or not. I wish there was a slider for quiet <-> cool -balance.

Otherwise it's a damn nice thing. Only thing that worries me is cleaning the thing and getting a sleeve to protect it from scratches. Both the color and the surface do not seem very resistant to either.

 

[mad jew]

I wish there was a slider for quiet <-> cool -balance.

In the Energy Saver preference pane, there might be a few settings you can change for processor performance (high, medium and low). I have this on my iBook and it makes quite a difference. I assume the MacBooks would have it too.

 

[JurgenWigg]

I'm off to college this fall and I'm dying to pick up one of these but i'm holding out for mainly two reasons:

-Possible updates between now and late july
-Possible sale between now and late july

Is the back to school ipod sale the only thing I shold be expecting as to savings? Do you think that the money saved from cheaper Core Duo's will be passed on in july? Is there any liklihood of a speed bump between now and late july?